Martin Kmetec

The Most Reverend Martin Kmetec Order of Friars Minor Conventual
Archbishop of Izmir
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Archdiocese	Izmir
See	Izmir
Elected	8 December 2020
Installed	2 February 2021
Predecessor	Lorenzo Piretto, O.P.
Orders
Ordination	29 June 1983 by Jožef Smej
Consecration	2 February 2021 by Paul Fitzpatrick Russell
Personal details
Birth name	Martin Kmetec
Born	(1956-11-10) 10 November 1956 (age 64) Ptuj, Slovenia
Nationality	Slovenian
Denomination	Catholic (Roman Rite)
Previous post(s)	priest
Coat of arms

Martin Kmetec, O.F.M. Conv. (born 10 November 1956) is the Archbishop of Izmir and a Conventual Franciscan friar. He was appointed to the episcopate as Archbishop of Izmir on 8 December 2020.

Biography[]

Martin Kmetec was born in Ptuj in Slovenia, and was ordained as a Franciscan priest in 1983 by bishop Jožef Smej.

After his studies at the University of Ljubljana, he obtained his doctorate with a thesis on interreligious dialogue and carried out his ministry in Lebanon. From 2014 to 2018 he was vicar of the Conventual Friars Minor at the Custody of the Holy Land. Since 2011 he has been ministering in the convent of Istanbul, of which he became superior in 2018. He speaks Slovenian, Turkish, French, Arabic, and Italian.

On 8 December 2020 Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Izmir.^[1] He was consecrated on 2 February 2021 by archbishop Paul Fitzpatrick Russell, apostolic Nuncio to Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan.

References[]